Monthly Archives: July 2009

I told you in an earlier post that I had been going to town on designing this month. Before my medical odyssey, I had some good drugs. LOL I just sat and created away! I went really crazy, and whimsical. Go figure. LOL

So, I have a kit I made for the Color Challenge over at DigiScrapObsession – “Second Glances”. This month at DSO will go down in history as the month there were two ‘color challenges’. You just have to go there and see for yourself, if you don’t already know. LOL I used ephemera and made quite a few things for this little kit. The colors were inspiring!

Good Wednesday! I thought I’d come back today with a few more things that I feel need attention. I have thought of so many things I want to write about and, now, I am having trouble remembering them all. Leave it to me and it will be forgotten. LOL

Through one of my newsletters, High Resolution Textures, I learned of a new website, Love Textures. It isn’t huge. The header states they have “177 Free Textures to Download”. What impressed me was the sincerity of the artist, Justin. Photography is his hobby. He enjoys snapping photos of unusual things he finds. It appears, to me, that he snaps with an eye for design. Judge for yourself. What he does offer it a bit different from many of the others. It is as though he is showing us some of the same things, just from a different perspective – his. And, if that weren’t enough, my simple comment garnered an e-mail from a really nice person. LOL That counts in my book!

Okay. This is something that I have needed to do for a long time. Too long! Some of my dear online friends have payed their respect to my blog and/or our friendship with awards. Though I have thanked each person, individually, I want to pay my gratitude here. These good folks took the time to think of me, so, I want to acknowledge their kindness, now.

Then, there also are several “Taggings” from Snowraven and Keryn – ScrappinShaddie. I know I am suppose to pass each award and tag along to another group of deserving individuals. I don’t know. I tell these people how I feel often. I can pass the awards along. I probably will. But, I have always ‘marched to a different drum’. I want to do it my way. LOL

Call me an ol’ sentimental fool, but, these things mean a lot to me. I mean, of all the things my online friends have to do in a day – their designing, work, family, grandchildren, hobbies, spouses, shall I go on? That they took a moment to think of me just really means a lot. I don’t have to be sick or missing(ha-ha) or whatever. They still find the time to drop me a comment on my blog or something.

While I am writing on comments and friendliness, I have been noticing something. The folks I comment to are so pleased to receive it. I almost always hear a reply from people whose blogs I have stopped at and commented. These folks are really grateful that I took my time. With a few, I got the impression that they don’t receive very many comments.

I had joined a group at Yahoo that featured one aspect of design, which isn’t really important, here. Day, after day, e-mails would come through my inbox, each with a new ‘design’. The site owner was creating and posting these beautiful things. This is her ‘thing’. However, I never saw another person post!

You know how groups postings are, they come in to your e-mail in a format. The owner was always the only one posting. I figured I must have my e-mail alerts set wrong. I visited the group site and, lo and behold, the owner and, perhaps, two other people, were the only posters. I checked the group member count. Sufficiently highter than four – the owner, the other two, and myself.

I am firm on doing the ‘right’ thing, so, I replied. I was truely grateful for the gorgeous goodies pouring in to my inbox! The worst thing that could happen is that I get booted from the group! LOL I received a reply within half an hour from one grateful lady! She was so pleased that I liked her designs. She was just pleased to hear anything, it seemed. Another casual comment warranted, yet, another rich response, full of accomodation to me. Then, there came several posts acknowledging my comments, made to the whole group. It was a mite embarrassing, for a minute. Then, I realised what I thought all along – no one else is commenting but me! How friggin’ pathetic! This lady’s things are art! She makes it and puts it out in an e-mail for all the group to use. commercially, even. It is a very lucrative arrangement, by the way. Her site will pop up, here, at a later date. I just don’t think it is relevant to this telling.

There have been several times I have been reading a blog post, often becasue of a found goodie. While reading, something inspired me to comment. It wasn’t always the goodie, either. LOL Often, something the author/artist had written, either struck a chord with me or brought up something I knew something about. My experiences are few, but, some of the wisdom I have learned through out my life bids me well when pondering another’s situation. The things I write are short, inspiring and always soothing. I figure we run in to enough static and irritation in any given day, I prefer mellow. Throw in a sincere desire to just be friendly to everyone I meet and I get some wonderful rewards! That is the payoff! I receive some of the warmest, kindest notes from folks, all over the world, because I stopped to say “I know – you are not alone.”

I see a lot of blogs where the author has added some notice to remember to “say thanks” when downloading their goodies. That should be a given. I know not everyone does and, for some, it seems to be quite upsetting. That isn’t exactly what I mean, in this case. I just mean the casual, friendly gesture, from one regular person, to another. After all, we are all the same in spirit. Right? We are all “scrappers”! LOL

One last thing. I made these papers a few months back for DigiRidoo Scraps. They were made for a challenge using a tutorial from Breeza. It was a very good lesson in blending the layers of patterns, colors and textures to get interesting results. That thread is HERE if you would like to visit.

Don’t ask. LOL I have been, uh, tied up this past few weeks. I had some back problems that I had to go get medical care over. All is alright, now, though, and I am coming back, bit by bit. I am the worst patient! I prefer to just be left alone when I am infirm or hurt. I guess when you have enough stuff going on with your body, it becomes kind of a touchy subject. One I tend to keep to myself. Having said that, WAH!

I really am grateful to the ladies on the forum at Magickal Scraps for their unending concern and their touching well-wishes. I’m such a ditz, not to mention the drugs, the thread had to be pointed out to me by Snowy, but, you should see what they did! LOL Just look! Aren’t these cards/layouts just beautiful?!

KyraSnowyEdnaNanaHere is my “Thank You” card I posted on the forum to all the folks at Magickal Scraps:They sure know how to make a girl feel better! LOL To the others who had kind words, I thank you, as well. Now, for the goodies.

I usually post goodies that I made for the challenges at Magickal Scraps, or anywhere else. Having been out of commission for most of the month, I got a lot of designing in, I just have not been able to put any of it together. I am feeling so much better, but, I can’t sit in my usual PC position for very long. Plus, I don’t know. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to mend back to my old self. I hate getting old(er)! LOL!!

Anyway, I was doing some of the stuff and got side-tracked tonight. I spent forever looking for something I wanted online. I found variations, but, not what I wanted, specifically. So, I make them! I love the ‘swirly, striped tentacles’ I have seen in a Suess-themed brush set and elsewhere. I found a set of ‘tentacle’ brushes and striped them, myself. I had also been on the look-out for a nice ‘curly tree’. Bada-bing! LOL made one of those, too. Since I have nothing else ready, I am offering these to you, now, free, of course. Commercial use is okay for them, too. Credit it entirely up to you.

Here is what I made. Click on the image to go to MediaFire to download.Slight drop shadow for preview purposes.

In other news…

My son, who married earlier this year, and his wife are expecting a baby. It’s so cool seeing him all ‘about’ babies. LOL I have two grand babies by my youngest daughter, but, this is my son. His wife is precious! The due date is January 27 of 2010. She started her prenatal care with a doctor, here, last week. We got a CD with images from the ‘ultra-sound’. You know I have to show you! LOL

Look at that baby! It’s just lying in there, taking it easy! It’s hard to tell what everything is, but, it sure looks like it has my son’s chin. ROFL!!

I will get all my creative goodies wrapped up real soon. When I do I will post more goodies. Which reminds me that I have a few things to share. At Magickal Scraps forum, there are only a few days left to finish up the challenges, but, they are so worth it. Snowy has us learning so many different things, it’s almost like college. The bonuses, and the collection of goodies made for the challenges by the other members, add up to quite a bounty at month’s end. Then, there is the Daily Download, too. My gosh! I almost forgot about it! Oops! One great thing about the DD’s at Magickal Scraps – Snowy leaves them up. You miss a few days and you can still go back and collect any parts you missed. This month the DD has been “Crayola Carden”. You can just imagine, from the title, all the colors, eh? One more thing about MS, Snowy regularly creates “Designer Resources” for us and posts them on her blog. The lady makes the most beautiful things and gives them away for others to create with. For that matter, several of the ladies do this. They design for the store, but, will post their treats on their blogs with links in the forum. There is so much to take in! LOL Pay a visit. You’ll be glad you did.

When I first started digital scrapping, I met Stella at Cottage Scrapbooks. This wonderful lady taught me so much. Other folks on that site, as well as, good folks around the community, were so friendly and helpful. I learned quite a bit, but, I also learned a lot about exploring on my own. I was completely rocked and saddened when Cottage went away. There was a major break down of the server. Stella had just moved back from Australia to Canada and had virtually no time at all to recover the site. She took a break.

Since then, I have kept company with many of the same folks, at different places, and on their blogs. But, I have also explored the internet, checking out scrapbooking sites and folks’ blogs. I have found a few places I like to frequent, other than my Magickal Scraps addiction. LOL I’ve tried my hand at interpretting French, Romanian, Spanish, and other tongues, in my quest to see what others are doing with their craft. I’ve found there are some talented folks in this world! It is wonderful! The biggest reward, after getting to meet such a vast variety of great individuals from every walk of life and locality on the globe, has been the offerings. Not just the random kit or overlay, but, the whole picture – tutorials, elements, masks, QP’s, ribbons, swirls, alphas, and so on, along with shared life styles and stories.

I thought it would be fun to collect some of these good finds and share them with folks here. I’ve gone and worn myself down, this evening, but, I will start collecting and listing what I find that might be of interest to someone else. For tonite, I want you to know about “Lord of Design”. You have just got to go see this site for your self! Every form of resource imaginable is on their pages. You must be cautious of the TOU’s of each of the different designers. LOD doesn’t make this very easy, but, it is worth the effort.

One other site for your perusing pleasure is “Blue Vertigo”. They are probably the best resource listing I have seen, yet. Give them a visit and see what I mean.

Okay! From recovery to pretties to babies, back to design stuff! Whew! I could write more as I have it to write. I haven’t done this in almost a month! But, the meds are wearing off and I really don’t want to take any more tonight. I just want to lay down and rest. LOL